Motion City Soundtrack – My Dinosaur Life
Record Label: Columbia Records
Release Date: January 19, 2010
“All the things that used to mean so much to me / Have gone the way of dinosaurs / Hopes and dreams and everything,” Justin Pierre sings in “Her Words Destroyed My Planet,” the second single from the major label debut by this Minneapolis-based pop-punk band. My Dinosaur Life finds Pierre, now 33, coming to terms with adulthood and making good on the promises made on Even If It Kills Me: he’s cleaning up, he’s trying to do the right thing. He kicked his drug and alcohol habits. He’s learning to speak Japanese. But everything is still not quite right.
Lyrically, as mentioned above, My Dinosaur Life focuses on Pierre’s struggles to adjust to the world around him, adulthood, relationships, and life in general. “Stand Too Close,” a beautiful pop number driven by acoustic guitars and handclaps proclaims, “So I will understand if you don’t stay / They say I’m great at first and then the magic fades,” showing Pierre’s jaded and generally pessimistic view towards romance. Describing possibly either his battles with addiction or his failed relationships, Pierre sings, “It went from no good to f---ed up and over,” on “Worker Bee,” the opener. Pierre’s semi-cryptic introspective lyrics are still prevalent as well: “High tide, tight around the neck / The same song / Everybody’s bleeding / What makes me so different? / The insides work the same,” he sings on “The Weakends.”
Musically, Motion City Soundtrack are at the top of their game. After Ric Ocasek of The Cars and Adam Schlesinger of Fountains of Wayne split the production credit for 2007’s Even If It Kills Me, Mark Hoppus of blink-182 returns to the boards for My Dinosaur Life; he also produced the band’s 2005 breakthrough album Commit This to Memory. Whether it be the return of Hoppus to the studio, the band’s unorthodox recording style (the drums were recorded last due to drummer Tony Thaxton’s arm injury), or simply because MCS were ready to just rock out, Motion City Soundtrack has never sounded better as a band.
From the rumbling bridge of “Disappear,” the first single, to the slick, riffy pop-rock of “Pulp Fiction,” to the piano-driven catchiness of “Lifeless Ordinary (Need a Little Help),” the band sounds polished, energetic, practiced, and above all, fresh. Keyboardist Jesse Johnson is slightly less prominent than on previous albums, and mans the piano more than the synth or Moog, but MCS does just fine with a little less synth. Tony Thaxton continues to prove his worth as a top-notch drummer. I don’t know which guitarist plays it, but the " solo" on “History Lesson” is killer and comes in at the perfect moment.
Additionally, Justin Pierre has changed his vocal approach since the band’s last album, allowing himself more room to experiment with lower tones and more forceful delivery methods, and the results are not always technically impressive, but always emotional and never boring. All in all, musically, despite a few poppier moments reminiscent of say, “Last Night,” this album sounds ta lot like MCS’s debut, I Am the Movie—just with less synth.
However, despite all of the praise I have given this album so far, it is not without its downfalls. Pierre’s lyrics, while certainly good, are still not quite at the level they were on Commit This to Memory or even on Even If It Kills Me’s best moments. “@!#?@!” sounds like something a more explicit version of Panic! at the Disco’s Ryan Ross would write—and that is not intended as a compliment. There is also something more intangible missing from the record that was also absent on Even If It Kills Me. MCS’s first two albums had a certain magic to them, especially Commit This to Memory, which is a beautiful masterpiece that draws the listener in and doesn’t let go until it has said its piece. While My Dinosaur Life is an excellent record, and an excellent chance for Motion City Soundtrack to gain some much-deserved mainstream attention, I am afraid that I personally will always be comparing songs such as “Delirium” and “Stand Too Close” to “Attractive Today” and “Hold Me Down.” But, all of this being said, while Justin Pierre’s hopes and dreams may have gone the way of dinosaurs, MCS shows no signs of doing the same. This is a great album by a great band. Go buy it.
Learn more about Motion City Soundtrack and stream this album in its entirety on Myspace.
I want to preface this by saying: great review. you did a really good job describing the album's feel and sound, and you should definitely keep doing what you're doing.
That being said, do we really need more reviews for this cd? especially if all of them give it virtually the same score (around an 86-90%). There's tons of great (and shitty) cds that get no face time whatsoever on this site. Maybe try something new.
"Her Words Destroyed My Planet" is the second single? What was the first one?
Well, Disappear had a video before the album came out. There wasn't a lot of promotion or anything, so it was like a semi-single. Sort of like Broken Heart was with Even If It Kills Me.
Well, Disappear had a video before the album came out. There wasn't a lot of promotion or anything, so it was like a semi-single. Sort of like Broken Heart was with Even If It Kills Me.
Ah, okay thanks. I had no idea that there was a video for that. I'm not up to date on the music video world to say the least.
I want to preface this by saying: great review. you did a really good job describing the album's feel and sound, and you should definitely keep doing what you're doing.
That being said, do we really need more reviews for this cd? especially if all of them give it virtually the same score (around an 86-90%). There's tons of great (and shitty) cds that get no face time whatsoever on this site. Maybe try something new.
Thanks, man. I am trying to diversify what I review but I really felt like reviewing this...and plus I actually wrote this before the album came out, forgot about it, and then resubmitted it about two weeks ago. But yes I agree with you...they should be more selective with user reviews for popular albums. I think a cap of 3 user reviews per album would be very nice.
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